Add MS 88942/1/183

The notebook contains various astronomical and atmospheric observations (dated 1817 and 1819) and a few mathematical notes. Talbot studied planes revolving around an axis, found the equation for a curve traced by its intersection with a line (parabola), and also took extensive notes on the positions and paths of comets.

Talbot was especially interested in the Pons comet of November 1818-January 1819, the great comet of July-October 1819, a comet seen from Macao in May 1820, the Nicollet-Pons comet of January-May 1821, and the Gambart comet of May-June 1822. Talbot saw the Nicollet-Pons comet from Cambridge in February 1821. Talbot wrote to F.X. von Zach from Nice in late 1821 telling him of the comet seen from Macao in 1820 and asking about the best methods of computing the orbit of a comet. He wrote to Zach again in the summer of 1822 from London on reports of the Gambart comet. Talbot used sources such as Zach (Correspondance astronomique), Karl Gauss’s reports of 1812-13, Revue encyclopédique, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch. He noted that the 1818 comet might have moved very close to Mars. He compared the paths for the 1821 comet computed by Johann Encke and by John Brinkley. These data are contained in Talbot’s report to Zach, dated 12 July 1822. This notebook also contains remarks on the mass of Saturn from Friedrich Bessel, Joseph Louis Lagrange, and Alexis Bouvard, on the aurora borealis and its possible identity with zodiacal light and on the parallax of the Moon. Talbot proposed a method for generating navigational tables for ten or twelve years. He also presented comparisons of the results of measuring mountain heights, including those of the Peak of Teneriffe, of Chimborazo (Andes), Mont Blanc (Alps) and Monte Rosa (Appenines) using a barometer (hypsometry). His sources included Alexander von Humboldt and Horace de Saussure.

The notebook includes one later entry from November 1844 on the first page. The few mathematical notes are connected to astronomy. Talbot studied, for example, how to construct ellipses and studied the movements of planets, the parallax of the moon, and the calculation of ellipses.

Notebook designated 'A' on inside front cover.